Poor Merced

From yahoo real estate...

"Merced, Calif., is a quiet, residential city an easy drive from Yosemite National and Pacific Coast beaches. It's also a perfect case study for the aftermath of the housing crisis. Homes at the median level in Merced have lost 62% of their value from the second quarter of 2006, when they peaked at $336,743, the biggest drop anywhere in the country, according to data provided to Forbes by Local Market Monitor, a Cary, North Carolina-based real estate research firm. Earlier, home building and buying grew exponentially in Merced, but the metro now suffers from a whopping 16.4% unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reflecting a drop-off in building industry jobs and a grim housing market."

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/cities-where-homes-are-losing-most-value

Poor Merced. Poor us. Will it ever recover???

Taking Pictures

I tried to take some pictures today... Samantha cried everytime I put her down (it's amazing that I got the ones I did). Grant has decided that he loves having his picture taken (or at least the flash) so he often gives me a HUGE cheezy smile when I bring out the camera. It's been quite fun the last few weeks.

Grant's Animal Sounds

Why I love him!

We took family pictures last weekend and in order to help Grant smile, Nick made his elephant sound. When I saw the picture taken in the process of this sound, I had to blow it up! Grant loves his Daddy, probably because he is so darn funny (looking! -- ha ha ha).

Cute Grant moment

I can't believe how much Grant picks up -- he is such a little sponge.

Today, he played a short song on his little xylophone and then folded his arms, talked for 10 seconds or so, and said "amen." He did it 2 or 3 times too, so I'm not just imagining things! This was particularly cute because songs in our church meetings are often followed by a prayer, during which we fold our arms, and end with amen! SO CUTE!

It's time to start paying attention and make sure I'm teaching him good things!

Samantha Michelle

Right before we left for the hospital...

Samantha Michelle Fahrney was born on Monday, November 2nd at 9:56 am. Nick and I got to the hospital at 7:15 for a 9:30 surgery. It was a completely different experience to know exactly when she was coming. I got up and took a shower and did my hair and makeup (something I won't do with the next one(s) because I ended up putting my hair up and rubbing all my makeup off anyway).

Surgery went well. I love my OB and I really liked the anesthesiologist. It took a little longer because my doctor had to work a little to make my incision look pretty (I told him I didn't care... it's not like I'm a bikini person). I was nauseous off and on all day Monday -- I think in part because I was starving. Samantha latched right on and is a great nurser, although she's a bit of a barracuda.

I spent all day Tuesday in the hospital and got to go home Wednesday afternoon. Grant loves Daddy so much he didn't necessarily care that I was even home. He has taken peeks at Samantha, but hasn't really made any attempt to meet her yet. He does get a bit jealous when Daddy holds her, but Nick's doing a great job helping Grant.

She's sleeping well (mostly) and letting me sleep for at least a few hours at at time at night. She poops a ton (if I remember right all newborns do). The pediatrician gave her a stamp of approval. She is beautiful!

Grant's Antics

Grant is such a boy! He loves his daddy and playing rough, loves to go outside (brings his shoes to me multiple times a day), and has more bumps and bruises than any poor kid should. Within a 2 week period, Grant rolled his ride on toy down the driveway into the bumper of the truck (no bruise but it looked like it hurt), fell off the curb he was sitting on and ate asphalt (goose egg on forehead, scrape on nose), and then tripped running around stepping off the curb (his forehead as shown). Interestingly enough, all 3 of the things happened when Daddy was in charge. Hum...

Grant has been a trooper the past few weeks (well months really) going to doctor's appointments with me. We get kind of bored sometimes waiting for the doctor. Recently, he has found it to be a fun game to empty my diaper bag. He finds my camera and hands it to be and signs "more" and then will stop and let me take a picture of him. This one I thought was particularly cute!

If there was any doubt in my mind that Grant is not ready for a big boy bed, this moment made it clear (again). He moves WAY too much for a big boy bed. It is so fun to go into his room and find him in different sleeping positions.

Grant is trying to communicate with us so much. We taught him two signs -- more and hungry. He has added ball and fly (he hits his head- thawp). He is mimicking sounds, and loves trucks and buses. Anytime we hear a bus (or truck that sounds like a bus) go by he says "bus." He loves ice, and says ice, which sounds just like socks. He makes a doggy, kitty, pig, and elephant sounds, as well as the gorilla in the video. I want to get a video of all of his cute things. When he gets tired (and delirious) he spins around and makes himself dizzy. That's really fun too! He says Lily, banana, milk, and baby. I'm not sure if anybody else know what the word is, but it's the same every time. I can't believe how much he is growing and learning everyday!

Halloween!

For Halloween, we went to the church for the annual "Trunk-or-Treat." Grant was a monkey. I'd bought a skunk costume for him on E-bay but then a friend of mine offered me the monkey costume and it was so fitting, I had to use it. Grant could pretty much care less about going from car to car -- I think his attention made it about 5 cars, until he found a flower bed to play in. He pretty much spent the rest of our time there playing in the dirt and stepping down the curb. He didn't do his job of collecting candy for Mommy =).

Nick and I went to our first Halloween party since college at a friend's house the weekend before Halloween. It was kind of fun to get dressed up. I'm glad my friend had a big pregnant lady costume though -- it worked perfectly!

Grant at a little Halloween party with some of his friends. I'm constantly amazed at how cute and creative some of my friends are -- I never would have thought to have a Halloween party for Grant and his friends, but it was fun to see the kids dressed up (although none were too happy about it).

Yeah for real wood!

After
After

Before

Before

As Samantha's coming got closer, we started looking for a used dresser. It was tough because I wasn't really in the mood to search for a good one, but didn't want to go to Target and buy a cheap particle board dresser either. My mom had a dresser that was her Grandmother's that she was willing to give us -- the problem (for me) was that it was a mess! I didn't mind the color, but there were watermarks and other stains all over it. Nick and I spent a weekend sanding and staining the dresser and it looks fantastic! When Mom saw it, she said, "I want it back!" We are now hoping to find a bookshelf in the same type of wood that we can do the same thing to. It was fun (even though Nick did most of the work) and way cheaper than buying a new real wood piece of furniture.

Yeah for stress!

I love to be stressed. I have as long as I can remember, felt and done best when I've had a million things going on. I had the opportunity to plan our ward's "Super Saturday" because the Enrichment counselor moved and we needed to get it done. It was scheduled for 10 days before Samantha was scheduled to be born.

We had a "Christmas in October" on Friday night, instead of Saturday morning. It was a huge hit -- we had fantastic attendance and I think everyone had a good time. We offered different 5 different craft projects, a service project, a class on using Shutterfly, and cookie mixes in a jar (kind of crafty).

I realized that it wouldn't have been stressful (at all) if I would learn to delegate. I did a little, more of a just in case than because I wanted to, but definitely had my little hand in almost every aspect of the evening. To just organize something is one thing -- to organize and plan and prepare 4 different projects is another. Goal of mine: LEARN TO DELEGATE!

The crayon fiasco!

It is never a good idea to wash a crayon. Good advice: make sure you don't sort laundry on top of crayons hanging out on the floor. They can get picked up and washed. I, unfortunately, made that mistake with a very large load of dark clothing. It was the first time that I washed a lot of the clothes too -- I just finished buying a bunch of fall/winter clothes for Grant and was getting them ready for the first wear. Imagine my horror when I pulled them out of the dryer and found orange crayon on EVERY single piece of clothing. Some were worse than others, but there was at least a handful of marks on each. After researching online (what in the world would I do without the Internet) crayola's website said to use WD-40 and dish soap, and then to wash with oxy-clean and regular detergent. I started with a few items to test it out. I spent a good 2 hours finding the spots, spraying them with WD-40, letting it soak, and then rubbing dish soap into the spots I'd sprayed. I think I only did about 8 items too before I ran out of stuff. I didn't want those stains to set in (in case the WD-40 did damage) so I washed what I had done. I hadn't sprayed the maternity panel of my jeans (not visible=not worth it) or finished one of Grant's shirts because I'd run out of spray, but yeah!!! it came out anyway! Turns out, after a week of procrastinating and 2 hours starting, all it needed was a regular wash with detergent and oxy-clean. Yeah for oxy-clean. I no longer have crayon on anything EXCEPT the only two dark shirts that Nick wears on the weekends! Bummer for Nick, yeah for me!

Poor sick baby!

We have been really lucky with Grant and he has only been sick twice in the 18 months or so that we've had with him. The first time was back in May, from a bug we picked up at the doctor's office (grrr), and we managed because he just slept. All day. This time around, Mom got sick first. It is no fun to care for a sick child when you are sick! Poor Grant was so tired but wanted to play so bad. He is not the type to fall asleep anywhere but his car seat or crib. I took this picture because he wanted to play so badly but just couldn't muster the energy. He was laying on the dog's bed with his paci and yarn, reaching for the steering wheel. Poor guy. He got better faster than I did though!

I love my blankie

My grandma (Nyanya) makes a blanket for each one of her great grandchildren. This is a picture of Grant with his. He LOVES it, as do all of his cousins. I am excited to get the one that she made for Samantha -- I suspect Sam will love it too. We usually keep it in the crib, but if it ever comes out, Grant won't let it go -- he wrestles with it. He won't share it with me either. I tried to take a corner to sleep on in the car and he kept pulling it a way from me. My blankie!

Grant LOVES the water

We've taken Grant swimming a few times and he loves it every time. These particular pictures are from June (YIKES) but he still loves the water. I took him swimming with my sister last week and all he wanted to do was "jump" in. Really, it was more like be pulled in by Mom, but he kept asking for more. He blows bubbles and does fairly well when we dunk him. Lily doesn't get to join us often, but she loves to swim too (maybe even more than Grant, we can't get her out).

Sprinkler Fun!

Often when we are eating dinner and Grant is driving us crazy, we'll open up the back door and let him play outside. He loves to wander around out there and rarely cares if we're not there with him. It's not like he actually eats dinner with us (if it's not cheese or fruit, he won't touch it). This particular night, we were eating a little earlier than normal and not 30 seconds after we let him out, the sprinklers turned on. This is his first experience with the sprinklers, but he showed NO FEAR!

Book Review

I finished the other three books that are a part of the Confessions of a Shopaholic series. They were cute. I still got a little annoyed at the character because of her total lack of self control when it comes to shopping, but they were really fun stories. I read the three books in 5 days (I think). I didn't do much else those days obviously.

I also finished listening to "Q&A" aka Slumdog Millionaire. It was a great story. I'm not sure how it compared to the movie because I didn't see the movie, but it was really entertaining. It is about a poor boy in India who is trying to prove how he was able to win India's version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire." He tells how he knew the answer to each one of the questions through his experiences, rather than through education.

Now I'm working on the Da Vinci Code. Unfortunately, I've had too much to do to just sit down and finish it and it's driving me crazy!

Quite the shiner!

A few weeks ago when we were at my mom's house, Grant hit his cheek on the bottom railing going down the stairs. Not only did he have a cut on his cheek, but he had a nasty black eye for about a week. The first picture is the night after it happened, and the second picture is two days later. The third picture we took once we got home on our own stairs... no wonder he occasionally falls down.

Book Review

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. This book is beautifully written. The descriptions he makes and the choice of words is incredible. It also made it much slower of a read - it wasn't the simple language I am used to =). It is about the trial of a Japanese American man in a small town soon after WWII (and Japanese internment). It explores different concerns of people during that time, including moving on after war and racism/discrimination of Japanese Americans. It was a beautiful story. I think it ended too abruptly though, there wasn't enough resolution for me.

The Invisible Wall: A Love Story that Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein. This book is a social history set in England around the time of WWI. It is a biography of a Jewish family written by the youngest son. They live on a street that is divided, Jews on one side, Christians on the other. You learn what his experiences were and what he has learned over the years. If I understand correctly, the author didn't write the book until his 90s, so there is an understanding in the book that may have been missing if written by a younger man. It is definitely a quick read but I didn't love it. Lots of discussable topics though, so great for a book club.

Oakland Zoo

Of all the pictures I took, I think this one is my favorite... Such cute men I have in my life =)

We went to the Oakland Zoo last weekend. Grant could pretty much care less but it was fun for Nick and I to go do something other than sit around at my mom's house. After going to the zoo in San Diego at the beginning of this year, this wasn't much to write home about, but I'm glad we went. Grant like the smaller animals, but only ones that moved.

Bay Bridge Tour

Last week Nick and I got to go on a boat tour of the Bay Bridge construction. It was really neat and a HUGE endeavor. They are closing the bay bridge Thursday night of Labor Day weekend and reopening Tuesday morning so that they can create a detour through Treasure Island. It is crazy the technology and physics of what they are doing! Even I (who knows NOTHING about engineering) was amazed. Their website: baybridgeinfo.org. It has simulations of what they are doing. It even won a Webby (which I guess is a big deal).

We were so official with our hard hats, safety glasses, work boots and life jackets. We were so protected so that if someone threw something off the bridge we wouldn't get injured.

Two shots of the old bridge and the new bridge side by side. (The old bridge is the one made of steel). They attached steel "netting" (I don't know what else to call it) under the new bridge so that the species of birds that live under the old bridge would have somewhere to go when they take down the old bridge. It's kind of crazy the things they've thought of (or environmentalists have made them think of).

This is a mulit-million (like 45 million if I remember right) dollar crane that takes pieces of scaffolding off of the boat from Shainghi (I know I can't spell) and onto the barge for building the bridge. This whole process won't actually be part of the bridge, it's just there until the suspension cables are attached.

Another Book Review

My books this week (or so):

Book 3 and 4 of the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. Children's books about a reserve for magical creatures. Fun books to read but definitely are written for children (whereas, for instance, Harry Potter could arguably be as much for adults than kids). Entertaining and easy to read though. I'll read the last one when it comes out and probably give them to my niece for Christmas.

Confessions of a Shopaholic. This book took me a really long time to finish because I had a really hard time getting into it. I'm not a shopaholic, AT ALL, and I found the main character really annoying because she has all this debt and still won't stop buying stupid stuff. I don't get it. However, I finished it, and actually enjoyed the resolution to her debt problems. In a way she was searching to find herself and I enjoyed the journey (even though I was annoyed during the first half or so). It is significantly different than the movie.

Bridge to Terabithia. I'd read this book in elementary school but didn't remember anything about it except that it was sad. Sure enough, still sad, very sad, but a great story and was worth rereading.

What next... I have The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings books that I've been wanting to read. Am I ready to tackle them though after a bunch of kid's books? Hum... Or, I have a Nicholas Sparks book that I haven't read yet. That one will probably come first. I never said I choose the hard road...

Making Home Affordable!

I feel like an advertisement but I'm stoked about his and have to share. Nick and I found out today that we are initially qualified for (and in a trial period of) a loan modification. Our interest rate was dropped so that our home debt/income is 31%. It is saving us $435/month! We have a 3 month trial period, during which time we have to make our payments on time (which we never stopped doing), and probably send in documentation of the information I gave them over the phone. Then, this new interest rate will be fixed for 5 years. After 5 years, it will be fixed at whatever the rate is now (lower than the 6.75 we're currently at, she said something about 5 something).

It feels so good to have actually qualified for something. After all my woes about the government only helping people who are financially irresponsible and NOT making payments, there is finally a program that will work for me. Yeah Obama!!

For more information go to http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/

What we've been doing

Not taking pictures (obviously).

I went to Sacramento to see the Lion King with my girlfriends the last Saturday in June. My friend upgraded out tickets for us so we towards the front. The costumes were amazing and the woman who played Raffiki (the baboon) was incredible. I highly recommend it. It follows the same storyline as the Disney movie with some additional songs and scenes. Worth it for the costumes (if nothing else).

We went to Bakersfield for the 4th of July. Joe Eribarne, the man Nick worked for over the internet/fax machine while in college and who we were going to go to work for when Nick lost his job with Harris and Sloan passed away and his funeral was the 3rd. I'm grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ and eternal families. I don't think there is anything quite like a funeral to remind us of our beliefs.

We opened a Health Savings account! For those of you who don't know what that is (as I didn't until recently), it is a savings account to use for medical expenses. It's meant for people with no medical insurance or with high deductibles. In 2009, $5950 that you put into the fund is tax deductible. It rolls over from year to year and can be used for any medical expenses (except premiums). We'll us it to pay for our new baby (I don't even want to think about how much that will be). It's a way to write of medical expenses that aren't 20% of your income (which I'm pretty sure is the requirement to put them on your taxes).

We also met with someone to discuss a rollover for Nick's 401K from Harris and Sloan and life insurance, as well as Roth IRAs for our future. Am I really ready for this stuff?

It's a girl!

That's it. She's coming and there's no stopping her. This pregnancy has been pretty easy, I don't even realize I'm pregnant most of the time. My due date is November 5th. I'm hoping to not have to deliver until November 3rd (scheduled C-section so if she's stubborn like Grant was then it shouldn't be a problem waiting until just before the due date). We have no names yet because Nick won't talk about it until the 3rd trimester. I love the name Grace but I think I've decided it's too much like Grant to actually name her that. Bummer. Now I'm stuck. Teaching has made it somewhat difficult too... too many memories associated with names.

Books Books and more Books

So I've learned something about myself. I get into something and I can't stop. Somedays (unfortunately) it's TV or video or computer games. Occasionally, it will be something constructive like geneology. Lately, it has been reading. I love to read. The latest in my quest for knowledge (or something like that)...

Cheaper by the Dozen by Gilbreth (I think). I read this for book club in April. It was the last book I finished before I started the other 4 in the last 10 days or so. It was a super fun easy read. IT IS A COMPLETELY different story than the movie. It's about a family with 12 kids, and the things their dad/parents taught them. It's a biography but readable as fiction (I'm not a non-fiction fan AT ALL).

The Note by Angela Hunt. It was okay. Worth reading but not on the top of my request list. It's about a reporter who finds a note written by a father to a child right before his plane crashes. The reporter is searching to find the child to return this lost note and final message from the father. As she does this, she grows and learns about herself also.

The Fabelhaven series by Muller (I think). I've read the first two of these and just started the 3rd (of 4) tonight. They are children's books (like upper elementary probably). The series is about a preserve for enchanted creatures (like faires, goblins, witches, trolls, etc). The main characters, a teenage girl and an 11ish yr old boy, go to stay with their grandparents who are the caretakers for this preserve. They get into a lot of trouble as they discover the truth about Fablehaven. They are fun to read but not at all on the same level as Harry Potter. Definitly kids's books, whereas Harry Potter could have been directed towards adults.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini. Beautiful. Difficult to read. It is about the treatment of women in Afghanistan through the eyes of a "bastard" woman and a girl who lost her parents to a bomb. It is by the same author as the Kite Runner and I'd say is more difficult to read but just as rewarding if not more so. I love the bits of history that he includes about the rule of Afghanistan and what their people have been through. If you can handle a little disturbing to reach a redeeming end, I highly recommend (I almost quit with about 50 pages left because I couldn't take it anymore. I'm very glad I finished).

Weekend in Ventura

For Memorial Day weekend we went down to Southern California for a weeding and extended our stay in Ventura with Nick's best friends parents. We went to the beach, even though it was freezing cold. Grant thought it was really funny when the waves were coming, but wasn't quite sure what to think about when the actually hit him. He was completely shivering after 2 minutes of putting his feet in like this.

On the way home, Grant was perhaps dirtier than he ever has been to date. We stopped and saw Grandpa while he was working and he held Grant and got construction dirt all over him. Then, we stopped for ice cream in Fresno (and a break because Grant was driving us nuts!) and he got dinner and ice cream all over his face. We let him crawl around all over the ground outside Cold Stone and he got filthy (you can kind of see the tops of his feet). To top it all off, he also had a major poopy diaper that we changed soon after this picture was taken. Welcome to boyhood Grant (and Mommy).